Contemporary networks are characterized by a combination of vendor lock in, imposed vendor-based controls and a lack of standards; there is thus a need for an improved system and method which allow users to take charge of a new global communication network in a manner that will maintain effectiveness and promote the setting and attaining of common goals. Moreover, issues arise with contemporary communication networks regarding the security and privacy of data; there is thus a need for an improved system and method which allow for a secure private and free communication network to be provided, wherein users are able to enjoy an efficiently managed working environment that presents a guaranteed level of private and securely-protected activity. Such benefits are especially desirable when governmental surveillance services are known to eavesdrop to a major extent on users' data and data communications, for example in the contemporary Internet.
Moreover, many contemporary computer resources are underutilised to a great degree; for example, there is underutilization of disk space, data memory, data processing power and associated attached resources; such underutilization represents inefficiency and is also environmentally detrimental. There is thus a need for an improved system and method for improving utilization of these resources and for sharing them globally to people who purchase them or to people or organisations who are deemed appropriate to benefit from them, such as children in poorer countries, science laboratories, and so forth. Moreover, it is desirable that allocation from such resource pools, together with other resources, are decided by system users.
Digital data is often stored on hard disks of individual personal computers (PC's) which invariably have data memory and operational overhead restrictions. Storage of data on distributed systems such as the Internet is also possible, but requires specific data storage servers to be available. In addition to such physical systems, data management elements such as security, repair, encryption, authentication, anonymity and mapping and so forth are required to ensure successful data transactions and management of data via the Internet. Contemporary systems for messaging and voting exist, but they do not allow for either authentication on what was voted for, or on line anonymity. There have been some attempts as listed below, but none of these attempts operate in a manner of embodiments of the present disclosure.
Known self-healing techniques are divided broadly into two classes. One class pertains to a centralized control system that provides overall re-routing control from a central location of a network; in this approach, a re-routing algorithm is employed and establishing of alarm collection times becomes increasingly complex, as the number of failed channels increases in the network, and a substantial amount of time will be taken to collect alarm signals from the network and to transfer re-routing information should a large number of channels of a multiplexed transmission system fail. The other class pertains to a distributed approach in which re-routing functions are provided by distributed points of a given network.
Some attempts have been made to attain some limited aspects of self-encryption.
A range of limited methods for self-encryption have been developed.
No known systems and methods utilise self-encryption as per embodiments of the present disclosure, and are related to voice and data transmissions, or include hardware controllers or servers.
In contemporary systems, secure transactions are achieved through encryption technologies such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Digital Certificates, and Public Key Encryption technologies. These systems address attacks by hackers through use of technologies such as Firewalls and Intrusion Detection systems. Associated merchant certification programs are designed to ensure a given merchant has adequate inbuilt security to assure reasonably that their consumer transactions will be secure. These systems also ensure that a given vendor will not incur a charge back by attempting to verify the consumer through secondary validation systems such as password protection and, eventually, Smart Card technology.
Network firewalls are typically based on packet filtering which is limited in principle, since rules that judge which packets to accept or reject are based on subjective decisions. Even VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) and other forms of data encryption, including digital signatures, are not really safe, because the information can be stolen before an encryption process is applied, as default programs are allowed to do whatever they like to other programs or to their data files or to critical files of an associated operating system.
There are currently several types of centralised file storage systems that are used in business environments. One such system is a server-tethered storage system that communicates with end users over a local area network (LAN). The end users send requests for storing and retrieving files over the LAN to a file server, which responds by controlling storage and/or retrieval operations to provide or store the requested files. While such a system works well for smaller networks, there is a potential bottleneck at an interface between the LAN and the file storage system.
Another type of centralised storage system is a storage area network, which is a shared, dedicated high-speed network for connecting storage resources to the servers. While the storage area networks are generally more flexible and scalable in terms of providing end user connectivity to different server-storage environments, the systems are also more complex. The systems require hardware, such as gateways, routers, switches, and are thus costly in terms of hardware and associated software acquisition. Yet another type of storage system is a network attached storage system in which one or more special-purpose servers handle file storage over the LAN.
Another known file storage system utilizes distributed storage resources resident on various nodes, or computers, operating on the system, rather than employing a dedicated centralised storage system. These are distributed systems, wherein clients communicate in a peer-to-peer manner to determine which storage resources to allocate to particular files, directories and so forth. These systems are organized as global file stores that are physically distributed over the computers on the system. A global file store is a monolithic file system that is indexed over the system as, for example, a hierarchical directory. The nodes in the systems use Byzantine agreements to manage file replications, which are used to promote file availability and/or reliability. The Byzantine agreements require rather lengthy exchanges of messages and thus are inefficient and even impractical for use in a system in which many modifications to files are anticipated.
Common e-mail communications of sensitive information is in plain text and is subject to being read by unauthorized code on a given sender's system, during transit and by unauthorized code on a corresponding receivers system. Where there is a high degree of confidentially required, a combination of hardware and software is beneficial for securing data. A high degree of security to a computer, or several computers, connected to the Internet or a LAN.
With regard to cash transfers, a truly anonymous purchase is one in which a given purchaser and a given seller are unknown to each other, wherein the purchase process is not witnessed by any other person or party, and the exchange medium is cash. Such transactions are not the norm. Even cash transactions in a place of business are typically witnessed by salespersons and other customers or bystanders, if not recorded on videotape as a routine security measure. Conversely, common transaction media such as payment by personal check or credit card represent a clear loss of anonymity, since the purchaser's identity as well as other personal information is attached to the transaction, for example driver's license number, address, telephone number, and any information attached to the name, credit card, or driver's license number. Thus, although a cash transaction is not a truly anonymous purchase, it provides a considerably higher degree of purchase anonymity than a transaction involving a personal check or credit card, and affords perhaps a highest degree of purchase anonymity which is contemporarily achievable. The use of cash, however, has limitations, especially in a context of electronic commerce.